The Jornada 548 is one of the three most popular Pocket
PCís on the market today. Personally, this was the first that I have
tested, and in the future I hope to test the Casio series and possibly the
iPAQ, if I ever get my hands on one. From what I have seen in the Jornada,
I hope that the other two popular Pocket PCís are just as helpful for
organization and entertainment

The Jornada is actually quite heavy, much heavier than I thought. It
weighs approximately 9.1 oz. with the battery installed. This will
definitely put a damper on your pocket if you donít have a nifty
belt-clip holder. Despite the weight of the machine, I was actually quite
impressed with how the Jornada felt in my hands. It has a very ruggedized
feel to it, almost as if I could hurl it at someone and not worry about it
being damaged. The sides are rubberized, probably so nothing would happen
to it if it were to be dropped on itís side by itís clumsy owner. The
size is a bit larger than a Palm IIIe, and also has a fliptop cover.
Unfortunately, for all you Palm III users, you canít push the cover all
the way behind like you could with the Jornada 430 series. Not a big deal.
A big complaint I have is the expansion slot on the top of the PPC. There
is a small clip that is supposed to hold the slot in place so the cards
donít rattle everywhere, but for some reason the covering does not serve
itís purpose. Rather, it makes the casing more unstable. If I had a
compact flash slot, I would definitely be hesitant to slide it into the
little opening. On the top of the Jornadaís casing, there are four
shortcut buttons. From left to right, they are: HP Home Menu, contact
list, calendar and tasks. These were extremely helpful when navigating
through the different apps. When Windows Media Player is opened, the
buttons convert to media shortcuts that can be set to the userís
preferences. I even set the jog dial to control volume. The reset button
is clearly marked with a label and bright red coloring. This made me
wonderÖif the reset button is so easily accessible, is HP saying that I
will be needing to use it often? HmmÖ

Stylus

Reading other reviews of the Jornada 54x series, I noticed that
everyone has a complaint about the stylus. Now that I have tested one out
for myself, I must concur. The stylus is about the size of a bloody snow
pea! Itís actually quite ridiculous in the whole PDA scheme, seeing as
holding onto it can be challenging at times. Another awkward aspect about
the stylus is itís location. Itís inside the cover. Can you say "tacky?"
This was definitely a bad idea on HPís part. They shouldíve stuck
with Compaqís spring design.

Screen

The screen on the Jornada is a CSTN type LCD display. Overall the
screen is adequate, sponsoring 4,096 colors instead of the advertised
65,536 colors. People who bought Jornadaís thinking they were receiving
a state of the art screen were very disappointed to find out that it was a
little better than average but far less than impressive. I found the
screen to be pretty disappointing. Reading all those reviews about the
Compaqís screen, I was expecting great things, but when I turned it on
for the first time, my first reaction was "WhaatttttÖ." The
screen is definitely grainy. In some programs you can actually make out
the pixel lines, i.e. Sierra Imaging. Another gripe I have with the
Jornadaís screen is that it takes about 10-12 seconds for it to reach
full brightness. This is unfortunate because if I only needed to write
down a quick phone number or memo, I had to settle for a half-dark screen.
Note to HP: Before you put out a product sporting awesome features, make
sure that they are correct, or suffer the consequences of millions of
PDAntics. As for texture, the screen feels slightly rough to the touch.
Surprisingly, I liked this type of display better than the smooth screen
of the Palm series. Itís actually easier to write on the Jornada than
the Palm.

Speed

The Jornada houses a 133mhz SH3 processor. I took the liberty of
heading to my local Fryís to compare speeds between the three popular
Pocket PCís. The Casio-115 is actually much faster than the Jornada.
Depending on how much software is in the Jornada, the machine will take a
bit of time to load large applications. If you arenít a patient person,
then forget about listening to am mp3 while checking up on AvantGo or
writing a word file. The lagging time is enormous, and that little
hourglass will make you extremely angry. Out of the Jornada, iPAQ, and
E-115, the Jornada seemed to be the most sluggish.

Battery Life

The battery life, like the speed, is also affected on how much memory
is being used by the Pocket PC at the time. At times when I had six or
seven mp3ís loaded, the battery life lasted a miniscule four hours. On
the other hand, with no mp3ís, the life lasted approximately seven
hours. Either way, the Jornada needed to be recharged at night. There are
two ways of recharging. The user can either plug the recharging cable
straight into the cradle where the Jornada sits, or can be struck straight
into the bottom of the gadget. I preferred the "straight into"
way, mainly because I liked to recharge while I sleep, and not have to
worry about setting it into the cradle.

Audio

The audio capabilities on this machine is EXCELLENT. The stereo output
is actually quite impressive and can be controlled with the jog dial or
shortcut keys when Windows Media Player is running. Unfortunately, the
output is not very loud, and of course the louder you play the song, the
more scratchy it will be. Headphones, however are a completely different
story. I own a Rio 500 by Diamond, and I could not tell the difference
between the two using headphones. I was very impressed with how easy it
was to organize and make play lists.

Handwriting Recognition

The Jornada comes with a handwriting recognition system which reminded
me of Jot. Overall this was the aspect of the Jornada that I loved the
most. If anyone reading this is a Palm user, you will identify with my
frustrations about the Graffiti system. If anyone is trying to decide
whether to get a Palm Pilot or a Windows CE running PDA based on the
handwriting system, please go with Windows CE. I loved how a
"shadow" of what character I drew showed up as I was writing it.
The system picks up on everything that you draw, even simple scratching! I
found that after I had used the Jornada for a couple days, I was extremely
reluctant to go back to the Palmís graffiti approach.

Price

The retail price for the Jornada 548 is $599. The next step down is the
545, which goes for $499. Personally I donít think any PDA is worth
spending $600 on. Itís definitely a steep price, but for those who will
use this PDA religiously, it might be worth it.

Software

HP Home Menu

Very helpful, but I thought that the Pocket PC OS was supposed to
get rid of the start menu? Itís definitely not gone, it is now put
in the top left corner which I thought was pretty useless.

I didnít like the fact that there was no "X" at the
top of every window to close it. Instead, I had to go back to the
home menu and manually close it using Task Switcher. Maybe there is
something I donít know?

HP Security

I especially enjoyed the four number password that you can set to
come up every time you turn on the machine. This prevented nosy
peers from getting their muggy hands all over my PDA. A must-have
for anyone whoís around these characters.

Basic Microsoft Office Apps

Word

Definitely useful for those quick notes, a breeze to use.

Includes all the standard quirks, including bullets,
underline, italics, and bold.

A bit slow, even when no mp3ís were installed on the
Jornada. Using Avantgo was basic as usual, no complications
during setup.

Notes

This was one of the more trivial programs on the Jornada.
Trivial, but definitely neat. This is basically one of those ink
programs, where you can jot down a quick phone number in your
own handwriting. There is also a "recognize" function,
where the Jornada tries to recognize what you are trying to
write and converts it to word format. This is useful, but
Recognizer hardly ever changed into what I was writing.

Pros and Cons

Pros

Cons

Stereo Output is excellent through headphones

- Bland design compared to the iPAQ and Em-500

Handwriting Recognition is near perfect, one of the best
systems Iíve ever experiences

Screen is gritty, pixel lines are apparent in certain
programs

Metal Casing feels very rugged

Stylus reminds me of a large paper clip

A serial cable and a USB cable are both included for those
who donít have a USB port on their computers.

Lags when mp3ís are being played.

Conclusion

After testing out this machine, I have come to the conclusion that
Iím not exactly overjoyed with how it performed. Although it never
froze up or had any real problems, it wasnít extremely special in any
way. The form factor is quite bland, and after a while that excited
feeling started diminishing. I believe that a $600 PDA should electrify
itís owner every time itís turned on. The Jornada series of Pocket
PCís are definitely meant for the businessman. If you are a student
considering buying a Pocket PC, you might want to look at the iPAQ or
possibly the Casio EM-500.